Thanks Ben

08/22/08 10:52AM EDT

Bernanke's boilerplate statement on the US Economy this morning out of Jackson Hole doesn't have any proactive or predictable value for the US market. The slight change in his wording was that he expects "medium term” inflation to abate somewhat, but guess what, he has been predicting a slowdown in inflation since 2006!

Obviously Ben's “call” on inflation has been one of the worst macro calls in recent memory. That said, eventually even a broken clock gets the time right. Surely using his new "medium term” definition gives him room to call inflation abating before the year 2010, but who cares.

Bernanke's crystal ball has had zero predictive value. I am not sure why the media and traders think it does today, other than they have no context. KM